Bio
• Kevin Schiltz is in his ninth season as head coach of the Johnnie wrestling team in 2025-26. A 16-year assistant wrestling coach at Saint John's, Schiltz was named head coach of the Johnnies' program on July 20, 2017. He is the first non-SJU graduate to lead the wrestling program since Jim Lind, who coached the Johnnies for two seasons from 1979-81.
2024-25 Season
• Five Johnnies placed in the top eight as SJU finished 10th out of 16 teams at the NCAA Regional. Two Johnnies – freshman Thomas Holmquist and sophomore Connor Krueger – just missed a trip to the NCAA Division III Championships with fourth-place finishes at their respective weights. The top three in each weight class advanced to nationals.
2023-24 Season
• Owen Herbst ’27 (174 lbs.) and Connor Krueger ’27 (141 lbs.) finished eighth at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional in March. Krueger totaled a team-best 22-11 record and Herbst was named a National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-American, SJU’s 30th over the last 16 seasons. Herbst tallied an 11-4 record and posted the fastest pin in school history – eight seconds – Jan. 27 in the Johnnies' 44-6 win over Minnesota West C.T.C. Ben Gilbertson ’24, the team’s lone senior and team captain, earned CSC Academic All-District honors for the second-consecutive year.
2022-23 Season
• Three Johnnies – Ben Gilbertson ’24 (184 lbs.), D.J. Myles ’25 (197 lbs.) and Logan Thorsten ’25 (157 lbs.) - won matches for SJU at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional. Gilbertson ended the season with a team-best 16-11 record, including nine bonus-point wins and a 7-3 mark against non-Division III competition, and earned CSC Academic All-District honors.
2021-22 Season
• A young SJU wrestling team finished with a 0-4 dual record in 2021-22 and competed at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional. Ben Gilbertson ’24 led the Johnnies with a 21-14 record (15-9 against Division III competition) between 174 and 184 pounds, while Logan Thorsten ’25 totaled a 16-10 record (11-5 vs. Division III) at 149/157.
2019-20 Season
• Noah Becker ’20 was set to make his second national tournament appearance as the No. 3 seed at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in March before the COVID-19 pandemic ended his career.
2018-19 Season
• Luke Dodd ’19 (197 pounds) advanced to the NCAA National tournament in March after a 3-1 showing at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional in February. Jarod Novak ’20 (157 pounds) went 3-3, Noah Becker ’20 (133 pounds) and Jacob Scherber ’22 (174 pounds) both finished 2-2 at regionals. Scherber led the Johnnies with 27 wins, while Becker posted a team-best 26-4 record.
2017-18 Season
• Luke Dodd ’19 (184 pounds), Anthony Hennen ’20 (141 pounds) and Quincy Spiering (285 pounds) each posted 2-2 records at the revamped NCAA Upper Midwest Regional in February. Noah Becker ’20 led the team with a 20-10 season record at 133 pounds for first-year head coach Kevin Schiltz.
Accomplishments
• Schiltz's tenure as an assistant coach at SJU covered three different head coaches: John Elton '80 (2000-04), Brandon Novak '01 (2004-14) and Tony Willaert '11 (2014-16). In total, the program produced 18 All-Americans, including national champions Novak, John Newman '99 and Minga Batsukh '11 (three-time), and 53 national qualifiers in those 16 seasons.
Past Experience
• A native of Albert Lea, Minn., and the 1988 Minnesota state high school champion at 185 pounds, Schiltz was a three-time High School All-American in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. He graduated from Augsburg in 1993 and was a member of two NCAA Division III national-championship teams with the Auggies (1991 and 1993). He was also a two-year starter on both the offensive and defensive lines for the Auggies' football team.
• Individually, Schiltz compiled a 150-28 record and was a rare four-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion and national qualifier, of which he earned All-America honors three times (third nationally at 190 pounds in 1989, fifth at 190 in 1990 and sixth at heavyweight in 1993). He finished fifth at the 1989 collegiate freestyle national championships and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2016
• Following graduation, Schiltz competed as an amateur on the national stage, finishing seventh at the 1997 U.S. Men's Open (freestyle).
• He started his coaching career as an assistant for two seasons (1996-98) at Division I Virginia and returned to Minnesota to serve as an assistant for one season at Division II St. Cloud State in 1999 before joining SJU.
Personal
• Schiltz and his wife, Susan, have two sons, Aidan and Zack, and reside in St. Joseph.
